Padraig Harrington has expressed his surprise that Colin Montgomerie appears to be ready to sacrifice playing in the next Ryder Cup in order to captain the European team.

"We need to put our best foot forward every time and I believe he's the man for the job, but I'm a bit surprised he's prepared to give up his chance of making the team," the Open and US PGA champion said, in Abu Dhabi.

The successor to Nick Faldo, who led the team to defeat at Valhalla last year, will not be named until a week on Wednesday, but the tournament committee met last Tuesday and Montgomerie suddenly emerged as a candidate after previously stating his desire to play at Celtic Manor next year and then lead the side at Gleneagles in 2014.

The Scot would be 51 in 2014, however, and there now seems to be a move towards having younger men in charge. Faldo was 50 last September and Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam, both of whom have expressed an interest in doing the job in 2010, would then be 52.

José María Olazábal, Faldo's vice-captain and the favourite to captain Europe at Celtic Manor in 2010, is three years younger than Montgomerie, at 42. He looks odds-on to do the job in Chicago in three years' time.

But with the Spaniard's rheumatism problem continuing – it has ruled him out of next week's Qatar Masters – there seems a better chance of Montgomerie making the next side as a player, and that has to be considered as well.

The slashing of Montgomerie's odds following the meeting hinted at a leak and European Tour officials have promised an investigation.

Harrington, who is not on the committee, said: "It's amazing how these things get out. There's always someone who ­figures it out – way of the world, I suppose."

He expressed disappointment for Lyle if he was to miss out – Woosnam did the job in Ireland three years ago – but added: "Anybody on Tour younger than me does not really know Sandy, whereas they will be very familiar with Monty."